Electrode of secondary batteries.



H. GARDE & A. J. ADAMS.

ELECTRODE OF SECONDARY BATTERIES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.14, 1910.

1,046,288, Patented Dec. 3, 1912.

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the electrodes of secondary batteries of -Faure or pasted HENRY GABDE ANT) ALFRED JAMES ADAMS, OF LONDON, ENGLAlTD.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Application fled April 14, 1910. Serial 11 555,490.

I Be it known that we, HENRY Game and ALFRED J Aims ADAMS, both of .London, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Electrodes of Secondary Batteries, of which the following is a specification. V p

This invention relates to improvements t e type, and hasfor its object to provide thinner electrodes 7 of greater porosity than have heretofore been in use which will not grow, buckle, bend or otherwise lose their shape.

I The buckling of accumulator plates is one of the greatest sources of trouble to users of secondary batteries. This disadvant e is particularly manifest in electrodes 0 the spiral roll type 1n consequence of there being gr to accommodate the growth. The that the positive plates tend d cause short no room result of this is, to press upon the negatives an circuiting. This growth or expansion which takes lace in the active material in the course 0 formation?" or peroxidation. This owth is.very considerable and increases with the amount of active material contained in a plate. It exercises very great pressure or expansive force on the support or grid, and if the latter is made of non-expansible material such as antimonial lead and is of sufiicient strength to resist the expansive force being so exerted, the active material will become compressed with the result that its pprosity diminished. On the other nd, if the support or grid is not of suificient, strength all through to so resist the said expansive force, it will either break, bend or buckle wherever the resistance is too little. If however supports or 'ds are ductile or expansible and not of su cient thickness or strength to resist the said expansive force, the active material will be allowed to expand and the growth will continue'to take place over the entire area of the plate until the active material becomes completely peroxidized, the

support or grid expanding. with the active material. In order however to preserve the original shape of the plate and prevent it from bending or curv ng on the edges and corners, the bridges or members must not be of greater thicknesor strength on the outside or margins than in the inside or middle of the plate or in other words there must be is'confined to the positive plates and is caused by the growth j multiple roll or spiral ;duced to a spongy no frame surrounding the support or grid.

the growth of By taking these precautions the active material takes place equally all over-the plate and when said growth is completed, the plate will be of the same shape "as it originally was, .but have considerably greater surface and more porosity.

It has previously been proposed to produce cylindrical positive electrodes by pastinghpierced sheets or skeletons of soft lead wit electrolytically and subjecting them to strong pressure in molds to give them the desired shape, but in this process the growing of the plates by peroxidation was effected after the plates had been pressed active material reducing the platesv K Patented Dec.3,191 2.

shape and after they had been arranged 1n 1 position in their containing vessels, the owth being, in fact, utilized to cause the plates to expand tightly against the walls of their containing vessels. Such a process is, however, not suitable for plates of the spiral roll type on account of the liability of the expansion causing short circuiting.

Our invention. however, consists in employing lead grids or supports having their es or margins. of no greater strength than the bridge pieces or cross members, and so treating the electrodes that they are own to the full extent by peroxidation while in the flat condition, and when thus fully grown are reduced to a spongy lead condition by electrochemical action and are finally rolled into the form of a double or and inserted into their containing vessels. By this means no further growth can take place after rolling and thus the danger of buckling and short circuiting is minimized. I Inthe drawing: Figure 1 illustrates one form of grid for the manufacture of electrodes in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the plate insorted in acontaining metal.

In carrying our invention into practice, grids or supports a of soft lead or some other ductile or expansible suitable metal or alloy having their edges b and bridges c of the samethickness and strength as the rest of the plate, are covered with a paste made up of lead oxid and sulfuric acid, and after being allowed to set and'dr'y are relead condition or formed negative in a forming bath of sulfuric acid ofsuitable density. They are then removed from the forming bath and subjected to strong pressure between sheets of wool or felt so as to increase the cohesion of the active material. They are then allowed to dry in the course of which they become hot owing to the oxidation of the spongy lead at a heavier current when the growth will be still found to continue to increase. This process maybe repeated one or more times at a gradually heavier current until the growth ceases, at which stage the active material may be regarded as fully peroxidized. The plates are then again discharged and reversed until they become again in the spongy lead state when they are again removed from the forming tanks and again pressed. They will now be found to have a much greater area than before and ,the active material in them will be of greater porosity. The plates. are then rolled into the form of a double ,or multiple roll or spiral after which they are inserted in their containing vessels (2 with separators e of insulating material between them and charged in the ordinary way.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The process for manufacturing electrodes for secondary batteries consisting in pastmg lead supports with a paste composed of lead oxid and sulfuric acid, allowing the pasted electrodes to set and dry, reducing the electrodes to spongy lead by forming them negative in a forming bath of sulfuric acid, subjecting them to strong pressure, again drying them, then formin them positive whereby they become peroxi ized and finally charging and discharging them a plurality of times, and using a gradually heavier current for each successive chargiing until they are completely full extent,

positlve whereby they become peroxidized and finally charging and discharging them a plurality of times and using therefor a gradually heavier current for each successive charging until they are completely peroxidized and grown to their full extent, then reducing the plate again to the spongy lead state, then again pressing and finally rolling them into the required shape while in the said spongy lead state, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY GARDE. ALFRED JAMES ADAMS. Witnesses:

H. D. Jameson, R. Wnmms. 

